Marines taste agony of defeat, thrill of victory on consecutive days

MARINETTE — Macie Zimmerman left her mark on Thursday’s non-conference tilt between the Algoma and Marinette softball teams, as the Wolves scratched past the Marines 5-1 at Kimberly Clark Field.

Zimmerman was in the zone, both in the circle and at the plate, as Algoma’s sophomore ace pitched seven innings of three-hit ball while going a perfect 4-for-4 with a bat in her hands, finishing a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

Zimmerman’s most impactful swing came in top of the seventh inning, when her two-run home run over the left field fence turned what had been a two-run game into a 5-1 advantage for Algoma.

Zimmerman racked up 10 strikeouts but did occasionally struggle with her control, issuing two walks while hitting a pair of Marinette batters.

Algoma improved to 15-3 overall with Thursday’s victory, while the Marines fell to 5-10.

“They’re a quality team and we picked them as a non-conference (game) because of that,” Marinette coach Scott MacIntyre said. “We wanted to see good pitching in May. She (Macie) is good, there’s no doubt about that. She hit the snot out of that ball in the seventh inning.”

Algoma ambushed Marinette in the top of the first after Macie Zimmerman and Ryley Zimmerman came around to score on a two-RBI single from Hannah Nell.

Nora Krause added an RBI-single of her own to push the Wolves ahead 3-0 in the top of the fifth.

Marinette’s offense, which had been held hitless through five innings, woke up in the bottom of the sixth after Destiny Walker led off the frame with a single before swiping second base to move into scoring position.

Walker advanced to third base on a groundout by Wynn Erdman before Kaya Bodam poked an RBI-single between third base and shortstop to make it a 3-1 contest.

Marinette got a runner on base in the bottom of the seventh after Bri Adamski slapped a one-out single to right field, but the Marines were unable to capitalize after George Grandaw went down swinging before Barrett Cole popped out to third base to end the game.

The Marines struggled to hit with ducks on the pond, going 1-8 with runners in scoring position on Thursday.

“Defensively, I thought that we were solid. I told the girls that this was our best defensive night, and probably our best night in terms of pitching,” MacIntyre said. “If you want to take one negative away, it’s that we went down without swinging six times. We just couldn’t get that timely hit, which has kind of been our forte this year.”

Erdman tossed all seven innings for the Marines and gave up seven hits alongside two walks while fanning six Algoma batters.

The Marines got back on track with an 11-5 North Eastern Conference victory at Clintonville on Friday.

The Marines pounded out 11 hits to plate 11 runs against the Truckers.

Erdman again handled the pitching duties and limited Clintonville to five unearned runs on seven hits in seven innings of work. She walked one and struck out seven on the day.

After the two teams traded runs in the second inning, the Marines plated two in the third, four in the fourth and two in both the fifth and sixth innings to lead 11-1.

Clintonville took advantage of a Marinette error to plate four runs in the sixth inning, but the game was already out of reach.

Neither team was perfect in the field, with the Truckers committing five errors and Marinette committing four.

However, Marinette benefited from eight walks, while Erdman limited the Truckers to just one free pass.

Peyton VanPool led the offensive attack with two doubles while going 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.

Erdman and Adamski both went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI, while Cole went 1-for-3 with a double, a walk, two RBI and two runs scored.

Due upMarinette: The Marines are at home against Fox Valley Lutheran today (Monday) at 4:30 p.m.

Algoma 5, Marinette 1Algoma 200 010 2 — 5

Marinette 000 001 0 — 1

WP: M. Zimmerman 7IP, 3H, R, ER, 2BB, 2HBP, 10K

LP: Erdman 7IP, 7H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 6K

Leading hitters (Marinette): Bodam 1x3, RBI; Walker 1x3, R, SB; Adamski 1x3; Cole 0x1, BB, 2HBP

Leading hitters (Algoma): M. Zimmerman 4x4, 3R, 2B, SB, HR, 2RBI; Nell 1x3, 2RBI; Krause 1x4, RBI

Marinette 11, Clintonville 5Marinette 012 422 0 — 11

Clintonville 010 004 0 — 5

WP: Erdman 7 IP, 5R, 0 ER, 7H, BB, 7K

LP: Popendorf 7 IP, 11R, 5 ER, 11H, 8 BB, K

Leading Hitters (Marinette): VanPool 2-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB, HBP; Erdman 2-5, 2 RBI, Adamski 2-5, 2 RBI, R; Cole 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, 2R, BB, HBP.

Leading Hitters (Clintonville): Miller 2-4, RBI; TauFerner 2-4, 2B, 2R.